Advertisers aren’t alone in their quest to clean up the digital media ecosystem—this, according to an open letter penned by Digital Content Next (DCN) CEO Jason Kint. Kint’s letter was in response to P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard’s IAB speech last month, where Pritchard drew a line in the sand regarding the quality and … Continue Reading

You can still get your quarter ham “STARTING AT $23.99” from Honey Baked Ham, Inc. according to the California Court of Appeal in its unpublished decision on November 8, 2016. The Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court’s judgment that Honey Baked Ham, Inc. did not engage in unfair competition or in false or deceptive … Continue Reading

The digital world is growing and lawyers are increasingly engaged in every aspect of the process, from content creation to consumer protection. Lawyers are helping CMOs, brand managers, and creative directors in producing stellar marketing campaigns leverage a wide array of resources. Our very own Doug Wood will be moderating: TWEETING WITH WORDS For a … Continue Reading

A putative class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook, Inc. just one month after Facebook announced that an erroneous formula had caused it to inflate a key video metric for the past two years. Facebook admitted the error in a September 23, 2016 post on the Facebook business page. The metric at issue—the average … Continue Reading

On Friday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Starbucks. The class alleged a violation of Illinois’ Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, among other claims. Specifically, the class alleged that Starbucks is engaging in unfair acts and practices … Continue Reading

On October 5, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled its case with Supple, LLC over certain advertising claims regarding its Supple joint supplement. Between 2011 and 2015, the company advertised (via social media, radio, and in-person pitches) that the supplement was scientifically proven to provide complete relief from chronic and severe joint pain stemming … Continue Reading

Last week, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Terry Somenzi and International Advisory Services, Inc., among other defendants, for an allegedly fake prize scheme in federal court. According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants engaged in deceptive acts and practices by targeting thousands of elderly consumers, announcing in a personalized letter that the recipient had … Continue Reading

Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced guidance regarding using the term “healthy” in the labeling of human food products. As background, the FDA issued final rules updating the Nutrition Facts label and serving size information for packaged foods this past May. Those rules require that the Nutrition Facts label include changes in the … Continue Reading

Late last week, a class action lawsuit was filed in California state court against AutoZone. The case was filed pursuant to AutoZone’s rewards program. According to the complaint, AutoZone’s loyalty program provides consumers with a “reward credit” for each purchase they make over $20. After five credits, consumers would allegedly receive a $20 reward, which … Continue Reading

The House of Representatives passed two bills last week relevant to the advertising industry: the Consumer Review Fairness Act and the Better On-line Ticket Sales Act (“BOTS Act”). The Consumer Review Fairness Act is aimed at protecting consumers who write online reviews on certain websites, by invalidating “form contracts” which would impede those reviews from … Continue Reading

Late last week, Dun & Bradstreet Creditability Corp. and its related entities settled a class action lawsuit. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that Dun & Bradstreet violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by using an automatic dialing system to call cellular phones without prior express consent of the plaintiffs. As part of the … Continue Reading

Earlier this week, a putative class action was brought against the NBA’s Golden State Warriors concerning the team’s mobile application. According to the complaint, the free app provides an interactive experience for fans by delivering scores, news and other information relevant to the Golden State Warriors. The plaintiffs allege that the app contains certain Bluetooth beacon software … Continue Reading

The international phenomenon surrounding the mobile game Pokémon Go has captured the attention of marketers. As we have discussed before, until Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go, makes sponsorship more readily available, marketers in the U.S. and across the globe have found interesting and innovative ways to latch onto the Pokémon Go craze. The promise … Continue Reading

Last Friday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) sent warning letters to ten online marketers that were making Zika virus-protection claims. The Center for Disease Control believes that the Zika virus is spread primarily through the bite of infected Aedes species mosquitoes. The marketers in focus are currently advertising that their products repel Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes. … Continue Reading

The advertising industry’s self-regulatory arm, the National Advertising Division (“NAD”), recently reviewed certain advertising messages made by Vapore, LLC. In both television and internet advertising, Vapore claimed that its “MyPurMist” handheld steam inhaler had “more 5-star reviews than any other steam inhaler.” In connection with the 5-star review message, Vapore focused on certain attributes of … Continue Reading

Pokémon Go, released July 6, has unleashed a swarm of hopeful Pokémon trainers into the world, seeking to, as Pokémon famously says, “catch ‘em all.” And while Pokémon Go users are traversing cities, towns and hamlets to catch Pokémon, advertisers want to catch a little of that Pokémon magic. Brands and local businesses are recognizing … Continue Reading

On October 30, 2015, Facebook, Inc. posted an important win in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a non-precedential decision, the court upheld the federal district court’s dismissal of a complaint filed by a proposed class of minor Facebook users. The plaintiffs alleged that Facebook’s terms of use—specifically, a provision granting Facebook the right … Continue Reading

From time to time I like to remind clients of specific network guidelines to keep in mind when developing advertising. One such guideline involves controversial issues of public importance in advertising, also known as advocacy advertising.… Continue Reading

One of the goals of the federal JOBS Act, enacted in 2012, was to expand the ability of companies (both operating companies and funds) to make non-registered securities offerings using general solicitation and advertising. Offers made through general solicitation and advertising have been prohibited under the SEC's private offering safe harbor ever since Regulation D was adopted in 1982, and many have complained that the restriction was pointless where all purchasers were accredited investors as defined in Regulation D. However, the SEC believed a change required legislation.
The JOBS Act made that change. However, the Act, and the new rule adopted in 2013, imposed a new requirement - the issuer of the securities must take reasonable steps to "verify" that all the purchasers in a general solicitation offering are accredited investors. Failure to take reasonable verification steps would violate the rule even if it turned out that all purchasers actually were accredited.… Continue Reading

As we have previously reported here, native advertising is intended to form a part of users’ online experiences, aiming to engage and compel with minimal disruption. Often the content of native advertising is high quality, reaching out to an audience’s wants and needs, sometimes going viral. Clearly marketers are working within divergent boundaries; creating appealing … Continue Reading

In a rare move, the ASA overturned at the end of last year its previous decision to reject a complaint about the accuracy of data used in a St John Ambulance ad, and has banned the ad in its current form, after an independent review. The ad (watch it here) was the 10th most complained … Continue Reading

Sci-fi fans will be familiar with the interactive ads featured in the world of the film Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, where upon entering a shopping mall, shoppers’ eyes were scanned to allow the shops to specifically target ads based on a particular shopper’s previous habits, e.g. "Good afternoon, Mr. Yakamoto. How did you like … Continue Reading